[Fly999]

Hi,

My buddy and I are taking a 10 day biking trip to Myrtle Beach during the middle of June. We're starting from Toronto, Ontario and would like some info, first-hand accounts, anything that can help us plan the trip to hit the best sbk roads in the East.

We plan on filming the whole road trip and making a video of the highlights. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[ijn8uh]

there are some very good roads in east TN.

 

[Desmo_Demon]

"Extreme Twisties"

I'd get this book.....

"Extreme Twisties" by William Long

and plan a route to hit a few of the roads mentioned in it. It's a good place to start, at least. The author used to have a site at www.extremetwisties.com but it seems to not exist anymore. A few searches of the internet seems to make the book difficult to find, though. I didn't even find a copy on eBay.

 

[Fly999]

I've been researching a bit and found that the Tail of the Dragon (US129) is supposed to be one of the best motorcycle roads in the country. Has anyone been out there this spring that can comment on the road conditions etc? There is a great link www.tailofthedragon.com

 

[Desmo_Demon]

I've been researching a bit and found that the Tail of the Dragon (US129) is supposed to be one of the best motorcycle roads in the country. Has anyone been out there this spring that can comment on the road conditions etc? There is a great link www.tailofthedragon.com

I've been there a few times. Your best bet is not to go on a weekend. It is an excellent road with good road conditions, but far too many ass-hats go on the weekends. To see pictures taken on the Dragon, go to www.killboy.com . If you want to learn more about the roads in that area, go here... www.easttnriders.com . The Cherohala Skyway is well known in that area, also. Pretty much all of Hwy 28, all the way down into South Carolina is nice. Hwy 129 is pretty nice down into northern Georgia, too. Several nice roads in the area above Asheville, NC and Dogget (sp?) Mountain area is a nice one to ride. You also have the Shadey Valley area that a lot of people frewquent. You can find more info on that area here.... www.motorcycleplayground.com . I am not familiar with any of the nice roads in other areas of TN, or any in VA or WVa, but there area several covered in that book....if you can find a copy.

 

[Fly999]

Great links. Thanks. I'm gonna avoid the weekends, my buddy and I are planning to ride Monday to Thursday (12-15 June) and then head back to Toronto. Hopefully the rain stays away.

 

[burnham]

The Skyline Dr starts in VA, then turns into the Blue Ridge Parkway. They're both beautiful roads, I go down once a year. The total length is 4 or 5 hundred miles, not much traffic, or side roads. From the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway it's about 2 or 3 hours to Deals Gap. There are plenty of good gap roads in the area. Also plenty of cops on the Skyline Dr. I'm sure somebody here knows way more about it than I do, just a few basics.

 

[slug996]

Mid-june's a nice time to come on down. It'll be WARM, but the spring storms are pretty much gone and you wont have any shortage of good backroad. Keep us posted on your itinerary and maybe some of us North Carolinians will tag along fer a spell.

 

[fastlarry]

If you have the time come down through Ohio on I-75; cross over on I-70 till you get to Zanesville and turn South on Ohio 555. Very nice, technical road through eastern Ohio (be cautious and alert); will take you down to Marietta or near and you can cross into West Virginia. From there you can cross the state going roughly southeast and into Virginia, where you can get on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Ride this down to the end and you will be in the neighborhood of the Cherohola and the Dragon. This is a great ride over some of the best roads in the US. Have fun!

Larry

 

[Fly999]

I have a feeling that I may need more than one trip to see it all. Thank you for all your input so far. I'll keep everyone in the loop and will post lots of pics.

Can't wait

 

[Fly999]

The plan: (Jun 12-17)

1) Monday - Trailer the bikes from Toronto to Cherokee / Bryson City TN
2) Staying at the Holiday Inn in Cherokee ($71/night)
3) Tue - Fri - Ride the Dragon (US129) and US221, US421, US91, the Skyway and tour Great Smokey Mountains National Park and enjoy Gatlingurg.
4) Sat - Load up and back to the grind in Toronto.

Anyone gonna be down there at that time pm me.

 

[Dunlop]

Update?

So how was the trip? This was almost two months ago now.

 

[Dunlop]

More info?

There are several covered in that book....if you can find a copy.

Do you know who the publisher was, or the ISBN # of the book

 

[DesmoLin]

Do you know who the publisher was, or the ISBN # of the book

The ISBN # is: 0-9671257-0-7

And the Publisher is: L & A Publishing

I don't think it's available anywhere.

 

[2UpDuc]

I've been researching a bit and found that the Tail of the Dragon (US129) is supposed to be one of the best motorcycle roads in the country. Has anyone been out there this spring that can comment on the road conditions etc? There is a great link www.tailofthedragon.com

.

I was there a couple of months ago with my wife on a 7 day motorcycle tour of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Dragons Tail is a very, very hard road to ride. The day before we got there a guy from Maryland ran the road, too hard and on his fisrt attempt through he hit a tree and died. So that will tell you how nasty it is. Very complicated switchbacks and fast corners into slow corners. 318 turns 11 miles. It is no joke.. I almost took my footpegs off in some of the corners. I would trailer my sportbike there then ride the road numerous times before going balls to the wall. Here are some pics from our trip. The Blue Ridge Parkway has the best overall corners and views of the east coast that I have seen so far.

 

[Desmo_Demon]

Glad to hear you had an enjoyable trip.

The Dragons Tail is a very, very hard road to ride.......Very complicated switchbacks and fast corners into slow corners. 318 turns 11 miles.

Ummmmm.....actually, most of us who live in/near the mountains just consider this a normal road with curves that you run across on a regular basis.